scholarly journals Beck and beyond: selling security in the world risk society

2010 ◽  
Vol 37 (1) ◽  
pp. 349-372 ◽  
Author(s):  
ELKE KRAHMANN
Keyword(s):  
Risk Management ◽  
Private Security ◽  
Risk Society ◽  
Private Firms ◽  
Security Industry ◽  
The Past ◽  
The World ◽  
Private Security Industry ◽  
Unknown Unknown

AbstractExpanding on the works of Beck and others on the growing business of risk, this article examines the role of the private security industry in the creation, management and perpetuation of the world risk society. It observes that the replacement of the concept of security with risk over the past decades has permitted private firms to identify a growing range of unknown and unknown-unknown dangers which cannot be eliminated, but require permanent risk management. Using the discourse of risk and its strategies of commercialised, individualised and reactive risk management, the private risk industry thus has contributed to the rise of a world risk society in which the demand for security can never be satisfied and guarantees continuous profits.

scholarly journals Private Police and Security Governance: Mapping Emerging Trends and Future Directions

2019 ◽  
Vol 36 (1) ◽  
pp. 101-109 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mahesh K. Nalla ◽  
Anna Gurinskaya
Keyword(s):  
Private Security ◽  
Future Directions ◽  
Scholarly Literature ◽  
Security Governance ◽  
Security Industry ◽  
The Past ◽  
Emerging Trends ◽  
Private Policing ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Private Security Industry

In this article, we outline a brief overview of the growth and trends in scholarly literature devoted to the study of private policing and the private security industry in crime and security governance over the past five decades. More specifically, we draw attention to the scholarship addressing private policing and the shifts in the discourse of the subject of security governance during this time both from theoretical and thematic foci. In doing so, we identify potential future directions in which this field of private policing studies is moving.

scholarly journals The Safest Country in the World? Notions of Risk and Security in the Japanese Private Security Industry

2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 83-106 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sebastian Polak-Rottmann
Keyword(s):  
Crime Prevention ◽  
Theoretical Framework ◽  
Private Security ◽  
Prevention Strategies ◽  
Private Companies ◽  
Security Industry ◽  
The World ◽  
Private Security Industry ◽  
Joint Crime

Abstract This paper tackles the question of what kind of views on risk and security prevail in the Japanese private security industry and analyses its discursive structure. A theoretical framework based on the Copenhagen School’s concept of securitisation and its modification by Olaf Corry-the model of riskification-is used to explain processes of shaping notions of risk and security within the discourse. By analysing newspapers and professional magazines, it can be observed that by constantly pointing out the risks, the environment of the private security industry slowly changes, giving private companies further opportunities to act as a positively acknowledged part of society. It is not them, however, who actively shape these circumstances; rather, the broader range of activities are enforced and legitimised by the police that seems to be increasingly interested in joint crime prevention strategies.

scholarly journals A legitimate business? Representations of privatised probation in England and Wales

2020 ◽  
pp. 174165902090377
Author(s):  
Nicola Carr ◽  
Gwen Robinson
Keyword(s):  
Public Sector ◽  
Private Sector ◽  
Private Security ◽  
The Public ◽  
Legitimate Business ◽  
Security Industry ◽  
Community Rehabilitation ◽  
Probation Service ◽  
Private Security Industry

The Transforming Rehabilitation reforms implemented in England & Wales in 2014 witnessed the transfer of responsibility for a large proportion of the work of the public sector probation service to 21 newly created Community Rehabilitation Companies (CRCs), which were contracted out to a range of providers dominated by private sector interests. This part-privatisation of probation services has raised important questions about the legitimacy of the new organisations in the eyes of both internal and external audiences, and about the ‘legitimation work’ that the CRCs might engage in to address any legitimacy deficits they themselves perceive. This article presents the findings of an analysis of the websites of all 21 CRCs, and considers what these externally facing representations of the CRCs suggest about legitimation work in the private probation sector. Our analysis suggests that CRCs use some of the same strategies of legitimation that have been found in another ‘tainted trade’ – the private security industry – and are similarly ambivalent about what – and to whom – they are marketing their ‘business’. We suggest that our analysis sheds new light on old questions about how the somewhat intangible goods of probation work can be captured and communicated to a mixed constituency of potential stakeholders, as well as raising new questions about the role of websites (and other marketing materials) in that endeavour.

scholarly journals Where Does the World Historian Write From? Objectivity, Moral Conscience and the Past and Present of Imperialism

2011 ◽  
Vol 46 (3) ◽  
pp. 671-685 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard Drayton
Keyword(s):  
Iraq War ◽  
Imperial History ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Past ◽  
Academic Subject ◽  
The World ◽  
The Future ◽  
Ethical Responsibilities

The contemporary historian, as she or he speaks to the public about the origins and meanings of the present, has important ethical responsibilities. ‘Imperial’ historians, in particular, shape how politicians and the public imagine the future of the world. This article examines how British imperial history, as it emerged as an academic subject since about 1900, often lent ideological support to imperialism, while more generally it suppressed or avoided the role of violence and terror in the making and keeping of the Empire. It suggests that after 2001, and during the Iraq War, in particular, a new Whig historiography sought to retail a flattering narrative of the British Empire’s past, and concludes with a call for a post-patriotic imperial history which is sceptical of power and speaks for those on the underside of global processes.

Jerzy Topolski’s Marxist Anthropocentrism

2021 ◽  
Vol 15 (3) ◽  
pp. 361-377
Author(s):  
Ewa Domańska ◽  
Paul Vickers
Keyword(s):  
Historical Materialism ◽  
Philosophy Of History ◽  
Marxist Theory ◽  
Collective Agency ◽  
Future Developments ◽  
The Past ◽  
Current State ◽  
The World ◽  
Separate Discipline

Abstract In this article I demonstrate that the ideas outlined in Jerzy Topolski’s Methodology of History (Polish 1968, English translation 1976) could not only offer a reference point for and indeed enrich ongoing debates in the philosophy of history, but also help to set directions for future developments in the field. To support my argument, I focus on two themes addressed in Topolski’s work: 1) the understanding of the methodology of history as a separate discipline and its role both in defending the autonomy of history and in creating an integrated knowledge of the past, which I read here through the lens of the current merging of the humanities and natural sciences; and 2) the role of a Marxist anthropocentrism based on the notion of humans as the creators of history, which I consider here in the context of the ongoing critique of anthropocentrism. I point to the value of continuing to use concepts drawn from Marxist vocabulary, such as alienation, emancipation, exploitation and overdetermination, for interpreting the current state of the world and humanity. I stress that Marxist anthropocentrism, with its support for individual and collective agency, remains crucial to the creation of emancipatory theories and visions of the future, even if it has faced criticism for its Eurocentrism and might seem rather familiar and predictable when viewed in the context of the contemporary humanities. Nevertheless, new manifestations of Marxist theory, in the form of posthumanist Marxism and an interspecies historical materialism that transcends anthropocentrism, might play an important role in redefining the humanities and humanity, including its functions and tasks within human and multispecies communities.

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